Speaking Event: Japanese Immigrant Economic Achievement Before WWII

When & Where

Japanese American Museum of San Jose

535 N. Fifth Street

San Jose, CA

June 15, 2013 - 1:00pm

Contact

Japanese American Museum of San Jose

PublicPrograms@JAMsj.org

408 924 3138

During the 1960s when the civil rights movement was demanding redress for the historic racial inequality in the United States, Japanese and other Asian Americans were often portrayed as “model minorities” who overcame discrimination through their own efforts. Some claimed that cultural traits were responsible for their success. This talk will take another approach, showing how Japanese Americans underwent a process of selective immigration, return migration, and family formation. The Nisei were a result of this triple- selection process because their parents were more educated and had a higher occupational status, compared to both Japanese immigrants and Japanese in Japan.